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Written by: Susan Melony
If you own a small business, you’re probably always looking for ways to save money. It’s important that you operate a business in the most efficient way possible, increasing your profitability.
The following are some relatively simple and creative ways you can integrate cost-saving measures into your business without impacting the quality of your products or services.
Automate Your Accounts Payable
When you automate your accounts payable with a modern software solution, you can save money in multiple ways.
The cost-cutting benefits of accounts payable automation include:
- You can save on the cost of labor that comes with manual AP processing. Your employees won’t have to do repetitive work like scanning documents and downloading attachments and can focus their efforts on more high-level and strategic work.
- Increased productivity will help ensure that your staff is working to create value rather than doing busywork.
- If you automate your AP, you may have the chance to avoid bottlenecks, process faster, and then, in turn take advantage of early-pay discounts.
- You’ll also save money because you’ll have fewer payment errors to deal with.
Consider Communal Advertising
With communal advertising, you can save on the cost of traditional marketing. For example, if you have a local business that you work with on other projects or that you have a relationship with, ask if they want to share the cost of advertising with you.
It works especially well if you partner with a business that offers a product or service that is complementary to your own.
Get Creative with Your Office Space
The COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of businesses to rethink their setup. Large companies across the country and the world are reducing their office space and having more people work from home.
As a small business, follow their lead.
There are a lot of ways you can save money on rent. For example, maybe you downsize and only have employees come into the physical office on an as-needed basis.
If you can run your business entirely remotely, then do it. You can also use shared workspaces if it’s a fit for your business, or you can convert an area of your home to your office.
You can save thousands of dollars a month if you’re willing to get flexible in the location where you work, although this doesn’t work for every type of business.
Use Contractors and Freelancers
There are certain tasks that you shouldn’t hire a full-time employee to do unless you absolutely have to.
Freelancers and contractors can bring specialized skills to your business, but you pay them on an hourly or project fee basis, so you’re reducing your overhead.
Along with outsourcing some of the specialized areas of work you need done, you can also outsource some if not all of your administrative work. For example, a virtual assistant can help you remotely manage every aspect of your business, not just saving you money compared to the cost of hiring a full-time employee but also giving you more time to dedicate to value-adding tasks.
Renegotiate With Your Suppliers
Another benefit of automating your AP is that it gives you a chance to see what you’re spending and where it’s going and then, if applicable, renegotiate your contracts. You should try to go through all of your contracts with suppliers once a year and decide whether or not it’s worth renegotiating or maybe even changing companies.
Go Paperless
Going paperless as far as invoices, bills, and statements can help you be a more eco-friendly business and can also help cut your costs. A lot of banks and other companies will actually give small discounts if you go paperless.
Plus, you’ll stay more organized, and then you can identify further opportunities to save money.
Do a Bank Audit
The bank you do business with can either add value to your company, or they can be costing you too much. Go over your banking information and see what you’re paying in fees that could potentially be eliminated. You also want to look at whether or not you’re earning interest on your cash reserves, and if not, think about finding a bank where you can do that.
Buy Used Equipment
Finally, whenever you need new equipment for your business, buy used. You’ll save a lot of money on things like printers and desks. There’s no need to spend full price on these items when there are always so many used options available.
Related: 4 Top Tips For Launching A Start-Up
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